This was one of the toughest watches I’ve sat through in a while. Not because it was bad in any way, as you can see from my rating it’s quite the opposite, I just think my mind takes time to adjust to this type of writing and even then I still needed subtitles to fully understand what the script was saying. I should also say that I understand why some would not like this or even hate it because of the confusion that can cause, but for me, being challenged in my film journey in any way possible is one of my favorite things about watching movies and there’s no better example of a great challenge than this daring, passion-filled masterwork. Through the first twenty minutes I was so disconnected from the story without the subtitles that I needed to fully restart the film with them on, though from that point onward I was thankfully loving almost everything about this and I’m so grateful I was able to have this great an experience as I was truly gearing up to switch it off and look for something else. Orson Welles is brilliant in a number of ways here, his acting in the lead as the iconic Falstaff was the best in the film, his work in the director’s chair produced so many gorgeous shots and the inventive camera work was a delight to watch (i don’t care if it came from a lack of knowledge about film), and finally as a writer who adapted this play with one of the most incredible scripts I’ve ever ingested, I watched and loved The Stranger last year but I never saw the full vision for why Welles was considered one of the greats until tonight. I know for a fact I’ll be diving deeper into his filmography this year after how amazing my experience was here, I almost wish I saved this watch for after I’d seen the majority of his work but I’m also thankful that I did watch it to inspire me to watch more. Aside from Welles, acting wise, I really enjoyed both Keith Baxter’s Prince Harry and John Gielgud’s Henry IV, they both delivered some incredible monologues and Baxter specifically had great chemistry with both Welles and Gielgud. Also seeing a familiar face in Jeanne Moreau who I loved in Elevator to the Gallows was a lot of fun especially since this was an English language film where that was French, I remember seeing an article saying Welles thought Moreau was the ‘greatest actress in the world’, and even with talents like Liv Ullmann, Katharine Hepburn, and Bette Davis around at this time I fully understand where he was coming from. I need to bring up Orson Welles’ script again because it’s so clearly the strong-suit of the film, it’s incredible at every turn and allowed for those aforementioned great monologues by Baxter, Gielgud, and Welles himself to really shine, and even though Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth rivals this I’d say it’s the adaptation of Shakespeare’s work that captures the feeling of reading his plays the best. I’m very excited to revisit this someday and gain even more appreciation because with a script this dense, profound in its themes, and full of amazing dialogue it’s a guarantee that I’ll find more to love, I’m so happy that I now see the genius in Orson Welles that I’ve heard so often discussed for years now.
“Is it not strange that desire should so many years outlive performance?”
This was one of the toughest watches I’ve sat through in a while. Not because it was bad in any way, as you can see from my rating it’s quite the opposite, I just think my mind takes time to adjust to this type of writing and even then I still needed subtitles to fully understand what the script was saying. I should also say that I understand why some would not like this or even hate it because of the confusion that can cause, but for me, being challenged in my film journey in any way possible is one of my favorite things about watching movies and there’s no better example of a great challenge than this daring, passion-filled masterwork. Through the first twenty minutes I was so disconnected from the story without the subtitles that I needed to fully restart the film with them on, though from that point onward I was thankfully loving almost everything about this and I’m so grateful I was able to have this great an experience as I was truly gearing up to switch it off and look for something else. Orson Welles is brilliant in a number of ways here, his acting in the lead as the iconic Falstaff was the best in the film, his work in the director’s chair produced so many gorgeous shots and the inventive camera work was a delight to watch (i don’t care if it came from a lack of knowledge about film), and finally as a writer who adapted this play with one of the most incredible scripts I’ve ever ingested, I watched and loved The Stranger last year but I never saw the full vision for why Welles was considered one of the greats until tonight. I know for a fact I’ll be diving deeper into his filmography this year after how amazing my experience was here, I almost wish I saved this watch for after I’d seen the majority of his work but I’m also thankful that I did watch it to inspire me to watch more. Aside from Welles, acting wise, I really enjoyed both Keith Baxter’s Prince Harry and John Gielgud’s Henry IV, they both delivered some incredible monologues and Baxter specifically had great chemistry with both Welles and Gielgud. Also seeing a familiar face in Jeanne Moreau who I loved in Elevator to the Gallows was a lot of fun especially since this was an English language film where that was French, I remember seeing an article saying Welles thought Moreau was the ‘greatest actress in the world’, and even with talents like Liv Ullmann, Katharine Hepburn, and Bette Davis around at this time I fully understand where he was coming from. I need to bring up Orson Welles’ script again because it’s so clearly the strong-suit of the film, it’s incredible at every turn and allowed for those aforementioned great monologues by Baxter, Gielgud, and Welles himself to really shine, and even though Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth rivals this I’d say it’s the adaptation of Shakespeare’s work that captures the feeling of reading his plays the best. I’m very excited to revisit this someday and gain even more appreciation because with a script this dense, profound in its themes, and full of amazing dialogue it’s a guarantee that I’ll find more to love, I’m so happy that I now see the genius in Orson Welles that I’ve heard so often discussed for years now.
“Is it not strange that desire should so many years outlive performance?”
